Richard Hentschel graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a bachelor's degree in ornamental horticulture and a master's degree in horticulture focusing on plant pathology and plant physiology.

Hentschel has served as an Extension Educator in Rock Island, Kane and Cook counties before becoming unit horticulture educator for DuPage, Kane and Kendall counties. Previous positions have provided opportunity to work with small and large agriculture and horticulture producers in Northern Illinois.

Hentschel's recent programming focus has been working with the many green industry trade associations located in Illinois, providing educational opportunities for their association members and serving as a liaison between those groups and the University of Illinois. Other programming activities include the coordination of bi-lingual pesticide safety and education programs in Northern Illinois for Hispanic workers involved in the green industry. Another project has been in the City Produce Project, bringing locally grown vegetables into the "Food Desserts" in the City of Chicago. Other projects include the promotion of horticulture as a career choice through High School, Junior and Community College and four year school programs and educational efforts supporting management strategies for the Emerald Ash Borer in Northern Illinois.

His program focus for the DuPage, Kane and Kendall Unit will be the successful and well known Master Gardener Program in each of the three counties and the outreach to the Illinois green industry encompassing many of the trade associations located throughout Illinois.